At the recent SXSW event, Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s search spam team, announced that Google’s Penguin algorithm updates would undergo some major changes in 2013. So take this as your official warning!

Cutts claimed that the Penguin algorithm update in 2013 is going to be so large that it is likely to be the most talked about algorithm update that Google makes all year. In fact, Cutts says that the search quality team has been working very diligently on this update which is going to be extremely significant to Google.

The last time Google updated the Penguin algorithm it was called Penguin 3 and it was updated in October of 2012. Prior to that, the update called Penguin two was released in May of 2012. Both updates played havoc on many people’s website ranking, so its expected the newest Penguin update will send shockwaves through the SEO community in 2013.

So when can we expect the Penguin update arrive? Matt did not say, but experts are predicting sometime in Q2 2013.

Cutts also confirmed that Google did go after a specific link network just a few weeks ago (as we reported here and here) and that Google has the intention of going after more link networks this year. The next update algorithm update is going to target another fairly big link network.

Look like there could be rough times ahead for webmasters thanks to Google. Best prepare your websites now!

Courtney is an online marketing and communications specialist at ineedhits - a leading search engine marketing firm with over 16 years experience. Courtney has been living and breathing online marketing for over 5 years. She specializes in web and communication marketing, while providing news and opinion to online marketing communities.